M.I.A. Asks Fans To Fund a Movie About Her Own Life

Singer-songwriter and occasional self-pronounced political activist M.I.A. is arguably the most famous revolutionary who's never done anything. After about ten years of a career that's been wrought with more public controversy and criticism than music, the artist appears to desperately want her story straightened out, and she thinks you should want that, too.

A teaser for the recently buzzed-about M.I.A. documentary has just gone public, in spite of a reportedly rocky production which ended in the film's announced director, Steve Loveridge, signing off from the project altogether. As usual, the man's trying to keep M.I.A. from voicing her very important and continuously unclear political message, so this millionaire celebrity is counting on her fans to put up the cash for her own documentary:

M.I.A.'s work has always existed under the shadow of her personal issues as well as the political issues that she attributes them to: she's encountered accusations of being responsible for 'glamourizing terrorism', of putting fame before motherhood after she performed at the Grammys the actual day she was due to give birth to her first child, and she participated in a public feud with NY Times journalist Lynn Hirschberg after Hirschberg heavily implied that the musician was a fake.

In fighting for the opportunity to advocate for herself, though, M.I.A. is maintaining her usual approach. The teaser for her documentary suggests that fans will see a collection of soundbites from the artist's critics, some interviews with much cooler people who are on her side (Kanye and Spike Jonze are participating in production), and an assortment of webcam videos she's made of herself singing her own songs.

Do you think Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas saw this coming when he decided to make Kickstarter trendy? Doubt it.